Guide heads are used in winding machines for winding or unwinding of winding rolls consisting of paper or cardboard webs, for holding the winding rolls during winding or unwinding operation. Two guide heads, freely rotatably or drivably supported in the winding machine (e.g in winding brackets) are introduced on each side into the winding core of the winding roll.
If the winding rolls are not supported during winding and unwinding, e.g. by a support or bearing cylinder, in the case of particularly heavy winding rolls the intrinsic weight of the roll can cause the bending of the cores, which are usually made of cardboard, in the area between the two guide heads, causing roll defects. In this case the roll turns slightly eccentrically in the core area, resulting in restoring forces during rotation, which lead to displacements in the wound-up layers. These displacements in the wound-up layers can cause bursting or crinkling in the core area.
From DE 25 26 497-B1 a generic grip head mounted to the end of a drivable shaft is known, which consists of a guide part and a torque-transmitting part. The guide part comprises a hub nonrotatably connected to the shaft end, with a cylindrical, slightly spherical surface, surrounded by a bearing sleeve. At its one end close to the shaft end, the bearing sleeve has circumferentially distributed axial slots in order to be able to perform inclinations, so that its peripheral surface can follow the flexing of the winding core. The second part nonrotatably connected to the guide part comprises a segmented sleeve with multiple axial slots and with pressure elements, pushing the segments radially to the outside when the segmented sleeve is rotated, so that torque can be transmitted. With respect to the second part, the first part has radial play and can be inclined, so that it can adjust to the alignment of the core. Due to the adjustment of the two parts to the flexing of the winding core, the strain exerted on the ends of the winding core is reduced.
This grip head of a very expensive construction with radially expanding grip segments is designed for the transmission of torque. The guide part is nonrotatably mounted on the driven shaft, which for this reason requires an expensive pivoting support arrangement in the winding machine.